Biggs: Largent says Zorn considered quitting

It’s only getting uglier in Washington.

Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent, who did some of his finest work on the way to Canton, Ohio, catching balls from Jim Zorn, said the Redskins coach considered quitting after owner Daniel Snyder took play-calling duties away from him.

This bombshell was dropped on KJR radio in Seattle, according to Mike Sando of ESPN.com. Sherm Lewis, hired deep out of retirement two weeks ago as an “extra set of eyes’’ will call plays Monday night when the Redskins host the Philadelphia Eagles at FedEx Field.

“Yes, he did consider it, and no, he did not want to give up those responsibilities,” Largent said “but they went to the point of pulling out his contract and saying, `You have got to do whatever the owner tells you to do.’

APJim Zorn

“But in my opinion, and this is just totally my opinion, Jim has never said this, never implied this, I think what Daniel Snyder was trying to do was to force Jim to resign so he was not liable for his contract any longer. And Jim is just not going to do that.’’

Largent and Zorn speak on a near daily basis. Largent lambasted the idea of having Lewis take over as the play caller, and the Redskins are being lampooned in D.C. and fans are reportedly looking to boycott team sponsors.

“I think it will be humbling and it will be embarrassing, but not for Jim," Largent said. “I think it's humbling and embarrassing for the Redskins and the Redskins owner and management that made the decision.

“To think that you can bring a guy in from a retirement center who is pulling out ping-pong balls in the Bingo games, and literally, that is what he was doing in Detroit, bring him down here for two weeks and say, `You are going to call the plays for the next game against the Philadelphia Eagles, a division opponent, on Monday Night Football,’ and think that is going to be successful, that is a joke.

“The formula that the Redskin owner and the Redskin general manager have for producing a winner on the field is not a winning formula, meaning they can't make all the decisions on the coaches and the personnel and then hire some guy off the street to be the head coach and win with what they put on the field. Because it doesn't work,” Largent said. “That has been proven for 10 years in a row. ... The failure of the Redskins is not about Jim Zorn. The failure of the Redskins starts above him, above his level.”

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